Be Careful Little Tongue What You Say

Last week I wrote that we need to be careful about the words that we allow to be spoken into our lives. When destructive words are allowed to take root they can undermine Yahweh's glorious purpose for us. In the same sense, we need to be careful of the words we speak. The easiest thing for us to do is complain. It is the most natural thing for our flesh to do and it does it often.

Our Father hates complaining.

That statement alone should cause us to sit up and take notice. Few of us would want to be engaged in any activity that our Father hates and yet every day we find ourselves complaining about people, situations, our perceived lack or the many great injustices in the world. Consider this one simple example from God's Word:

"When the people complained intensely in the Lord's hearing, the Lord heard and became angry. Then the Lord's fire burned them and consumed the edges of the camp." (Numbers 11:1)

Obviously we live in the age of grace, an age in which we are covered by the grace of our Lord as we grow into maturity. But just because the Lord does not punish us for the things we do does not mean they do not hurt him. Our God takes our complaints personally. That should mean something to us.

What really hurts is when we complain against his goodness. Our flesh has selective memory. It remembers the slavery of sin so much differently than the reality of it. It remembers the pleasure of it and forgets the consequences. It even exaggerates the pleasure so that we will complain about where  we are in freedom in Jesus and long to go back to slavery. Remember this:

"The riffraff among them had a strong craving. Even the Israelites cried again and said, 'Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish we ate in Egypt for free, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. Now our lives are wasting away. There is nothing but manna in front of us." (Numbers 11:4-6)

Funny how these complainers forgot about their lack of freedom, forgot the chains, forgot the whips, forgot the hard labour, forgot the thousands of dead. We need to take warning from this moment in Israel's relationship with the Lord. Complaining goes beyond our Lord hating it; these words also have an effect on our trust relationship with the Lord. Every word of complaint is a testimony against the goodness of our God. We hold on to enough of these words and it will erode our trust in Jesus and his promises. We will begin to believe that there is something better for us elsewhere. When we get into a crisis we will try to find help from another source. And when it comes to the good gifts of our Lord, we will reject them.

This complaining generation of Israel is the generation that failed to enter into the land of "milk and honey" that Yahweh had promised them. Because of their complaining attitude they could only see the giants, the fortified cities and the great armies that they faced. Their complaints turned their eyes away from the LORD God Almighty to the things of this world that, in themselves, they had no hope of overcoming. No wander our God hates a complaining tongue; he knows the effect it has on the heart.

If we are to remain his children we need to follow the example we find in the Word and fill our mouths with praise and thanksgiving. We need to put effort into this relationship and cultivate a heart of gratitude in all things. Whether in the desert or the land of plenty, our Lord remains the same, his love remains the same, his promises remain the same, his provision remains the same and all praise is due him. We can trust him. Today, let us sing with the psalmist:

Shout triumphantly to the Lord, all the earth!
2     Serve the Lord with celebration!
    Come before him with shouts of joy!
3 Know that the Lord is God—
    he made us; we belong to him.
    We are his people,
    the sheep of his own pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanks;
    enter his courtyards with praise!
    Thank him! Bless his name!
5 Because the Lord is good,
    his loyal love lasts forever;    his faithfulness lasts generation after generation.  (Psalm 100)

Thanksgiving With Arms Wide Open

So, it's Thanksgiving Sunday in Canada and we will all be talking about how thankful we are about God's blessings. But are we? Stop and think over for a moments the last three months, or even the last week. Perhaps we don't need to consider anything further than yesterday, or even this morning? How many times have you complained? How many negatives things came out of your mouth, born from an ungrateful heart? I think we are far more ungrateful than we really want to admit because we still make life to be about us.

We say that we have "given things up" for God, as if that is some kind of great sign of our appreciation. "Hey God, in gratitude for your kindness to me this week I am going to bless you by going to church and I may even have a few coins to put in the offering plate. I love you." Do you know what God has to say about that?

Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
    as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice,    and to heed is better than the fat of rams. (1 Samuel 15:22)

Why is obedience better than sacrifice? Because God is interested in our hearts more than our words and actions. He wants our love not meaningless sacrifice. Jesus said it very simply:

 If you love me, you will obey what I command. (John 14:15)

Our praise and thanksgiving should not be dependent on what God has done for us. "Because you have been so good to me this week I will praise you". Does this mean that if it has not been a good week according to our understanding of good that we will not praise him? That we will not love him? That we will turn from him? Just because we did not get what we wanted? I don't think that this is what God meant when he told us that his desire was for us to love him with our entire being. Again, this physical state should have no bearing on our heart for God. Jesus told us:

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:31-33)

I bring this up often because we have to be reminded often. If God considers our heart to be the great prize then we too should consider our heart condition to be of greater value than anything else. And complaining, seeking the negative, and allowing things of this world to disturb our peace devalues our heart.

You know, things we fill our day with that provoke worry and fear are a snap to deal with by the power of Jesus Christ in us. It is ridiculous that we would allow anything in this place to interrupt this love affair we have with God. Do you know how easy it is to be healed by a God who loves us enough to sacrifice himself on the cross for us?.

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

Understand, God loves us and by this love he takes great pleasure in responding to the needs of his children. He doesn't do these things to bribe us so we will love him. He does it simply because he loves us. He doesn't want great sacrifice from us as a demonstration of our love. He doesn't want us to pour out gifts on him because of what he has done for us, even though he deserves all that and more. He wants us to love him as he has loved us, without conditions.

Yes, we can be very thankful for all the things God has done for us, the physical and spiritual blessings, but make sure there is more to it than that. If that's all there is to it, the thanksgiving will fade away. Be thankful just because God is who he is. Be thankful for his love and the relationship we have with him. Be thankful because he chooses to be involved in our lives every day and because we get to spend time with him as he loves a dying world through us. Just be thankful because it is your heart response to our God who threw wide open his arms and declared to us all,  "I love you".

Overcoming Bitterness

Life can be hard. It isn't necessarily the decisions we make that cause it to be that way, often it is because of other people's decisions. It is hard when other people's decisions have the potential to impact you, especially when you are young. I have to admit this is a hard one for me. If we mess up we can usually deal with it knowing it is our own fault, but when we have to work through other people's messes it can cause some bitterness and resentment. But bitterness and resentment have never added anything to anyone's life. We need to find a better way of dealing with it.

We really have no excuse for things like bitterness in our life. That and a lot of other negative emotions happen when we allow this world and things in it to be more important to us than they should be. These feelings are provoked in us when we consider our rights to be greater than someone else's. They overwhelm us when we are always looking at how things effect us instead of focusing on other people. They take root when we consider our way to be greater than God's way.

There really is only one attitude that we can maintain that will allow the character of Jesus to shine through us in every situation, and it is the attitude of thanksgiving. Too many of us concentrate on the negatives in live and it effects our attitude, mentality, perspective, emotions and health. I could understand it if this life was all there was and we needed to live it to the fullest because after this it is all done. Even writing such a drab thought brings me down. Imagine if this was it? But it's not. So it's crazy for us to allow anything in this world to have such an effect on us who are eternal creatures destined for a glorious home.

We can keep away from the negative side of things by simply being thankful for everything in our lives. Jesus has filled our lives with blessings and just the fact that he lives in us and us in him should be a daily encouragement. We also have the promises that God uses everything for our good, to benefit us. So whether we find something to be negative or positive in this world, for us it is all good and God turns it in our favour. But even this isn't exactly a proper attitude.

When we are filled with praise and thanksgiving in every situation we stop being concerned with ourselves and we start looking at how things are effecting others. People become our focus and as gratefulness buoys our spirit and eternal hope fills our heart, we are able to serve the needs of those around us. Do you not understand what Jesus was telling us when he said:

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:31-33)

Do we not understand that true worship is found in the overflow of a thankful heart? This is not a glass half full / half empty thing. This is "I am thankful for whatever is in that glass" thing. Be thankful for what you have and praise the Lord. But be thankful more for the spiritual blessings than the worldly blessings. The worldly is  just temporary, destined to spoil and fade away. The spiritual however is for eternity and if your life is rich with these things you are rich indeed. So be thankful, fill your life with others and allow Jesus to be seen in you regardless of the circumstances. Not another word of complaint but thank Jesus for everything in your life. It is there for your benefit.

A Life Worth Living

I so wish I could accurately express to people how we are getting Christianity wrong. The basic problem is that we continue to live as if it is something that goes outward in whereas the reality of it is that it goes inward out.

Jesus explained to us that it is not what goes into people that make them unclean but what comes out. Think about it.

Most people want a set of rules or instructions to follow. I have even heard preachers describe the Bible as a "How To" book on life. Others refer to it as an instruction book. But it isn't. The purpose of the Bible is to reveal what God has done for us and is doing in us. It's an explanation.

So many people try to "live by the Word" but forget that we are miserable failures at it. So we come up with excuses, "I'm only human", "I'm not perfect, only forgiven" and so on. But in truth the greatest failure is not understanding that these things that God is doing is done by the Spirit in us.

Again let me say, God's place is to do and ours is to submit to the Doer.

It is God who changes us, not us changing ourselves.

However, in Colossians 3 we do find a few things we can do to better facilitate God's work in us:

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. (Colossians 3:15)

There is number one and two right there. Let, allow, permit, make way for, submit to, invite in the peace of Jesus so it may rule in your hearts. When Jesus told us he was giving us peace he emphasized it was his peace and he did not give as the world gives. It is ours, never to be taken away. But he is the one who gives it. We receive it from him as a gift, not something we earn because we have removed all the stresses from our life and we know how to do yoga or have mastered meditation. His peace exists in us in the worst of times because of Jesus and we "let" it rule our heart. That's our part, letting it.

The second thing is being thankful. He does so much for us that he creates this natural condition of thanksgiving but we have to choose to be thankful. A complaining spirit is not thankful. Neither is a heart filled with rage, anger, hurt, pride and all the other junk we pollute ourselves with. A thankful heart should be natural in the light of God's grace but it is still our choice. We have to "let" it.

There are a few other things that we can do as well. These are all things that allow God to have the freedom to work in us and in the Church:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. (v.16)

God can't force us to study his Word, that is our choice. But it is more than study, it is allowing the Spirit to put that Word into effect in our living: "dwell in you richly". It is seeing the Word come alive in all its depth when it says to love one another, to respect the elders, to love your enemies. God will write it upon our heart and the Spirit will enrich our lives with it as the Word takes life through our living. It is amazing stuff that works from the inside out but we have to let it, allow it, permit it, make way for it, submit to it, invite it in.

Part of the riches of the "Word alive in us" is the vibrancy it brings to the Body of Christ, the Church, our family. It is not a community, it is family, and it is vibrant when each member allows the Word of Christ to dwell in us richly. It turns us into teachers and ones who are able to admonish with all wisdom and not with anger and hatred. It overwhelms us with love for each other and the desire to see the best in people. It fills us with praise so that we are known as a people of singing and dancing as the praises of our God flow out of us. And, it brings us back to this point again, it provokes gratitude in our hearts to God.

Interesting how it always seems to bring us to thanksgiving, gratitude, thankfulness, appreciation. When we are busy being thankful we don't have time to complain or criticize.

So what is the end game? What results from these few things that we are able to do since it is up to God to transform us? The bottom line of our life is this:

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (v. 17)

There you go, a life worth living!

These few things that we can do amount to nothing more than facilitating the inward transformation that God is working in us, but it lets, allows, permits, makes way for, submits and invites in our ability to live our life in the name of Jesus. And don't forget the giving thanks bit. It provokes us to be a people of constant thanksgiving.

I don't know what other kind of life we are living but this is the only life that is actually worth living. This is life in abundance. This is freedom. This is joy. This is love. This is Christianity as it is meant to be.